The Nightmare
by Valiox
Summary: Shen, Akali and Kennen seek out Nocturne for assistance in an urgent Kinkou matter. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**Haven't posted in a while, so here's another little story. I hope you enjoy, and please review if you do.**

* * *

Torches gently burned and crackled in their brackets as the three masked warriors made their way briskly down the old stone hallway. Shen, flanked on either side by Kennen and Akali, kept his arms to his side and his gaze straight ahead, watching the darkness ahead of them. In contrast to Shen's stark determination, Kennen could not keep silent for very long. He continually fired off questions, fiddled with the shuriken attached to his belt, and occasionally twitched under the stress of keeping his boundless energy in check.

"Where are we going? Should we have knocked out those summoners back there? I don't think we should have knocked out those summoners back there. This hallway is dark. Do you guys like the dark? It feels like we go a lot of dark places. We should really go to some bright places some time, you know, for some variety-" Akali shot him a warning glance and he quickly fell silent, muttering apologies and suddenly growing very interested in the cracks lining the stone walls.

After some time, and repeated non-verbal reprimands from Akali to Kennen, the trio reached a large wooden door, several feet taller than any of them. Without a word, Shen reached inside his shōzoku and took out an ethereal-looking key, placing it into the single keyhole in the center of the door, and twisting it. The twin doors swung inward and the three walked inside.

Nocturne's prison was a simple cube shaped stone room, the walls, floor and ceiling bare except for several magical wards all trained on the spectre, who floated in the center of the room. His wristblades were missing, and replacing them were white cuffs that seemed to bind the nightmare in place. Upon the ninjas' entry into his prison he strained against his bindings, but the white shackles did not budge. Pale eyes full of hate and rage, he stared daggers at Shen.

"You...what do _you_ want?" he snarled, his wraithlike form wavering in the gentle breeze wafting in through the open door.

Remaining composed under the full force of Nocturne's hatred, Shen calmly stated, "We - the Kinkou - request your aid in an urgent matter."

Nocturne betrayed surprise for a moment, but it quickly melted into cold, humorless laughter. "_Me?_ Help _YOU?_ Why would I ever stoop to helping humans, especially those who have committed their entire lives to eradicating the things I stand for, the things I was created from?"

Akali raised her eyebrows, fingering the handles of her twin kamas she had strapped to her back. "The things you stand for? What would that be?"

"Chaos!" the nightmare spat, "Hatred! Fear! All the negative emotions humans hide away from, I embrace! It is my nature, and now you ask me to go _against_ my nature and aid you in whatever pitiful endeavor you cannot complete on your own? Never!" he gave another tremendous effort to free himself but the shackles did not budge. He turned his gaze onto Kennen, who was staring curiously at Nocturne floating in midair.  
"Tell me, little thing, what momentous task could drive you to seek my help?" the spectre said.

Kennen glanced quickly at Akali and Shen, who gave a slight nod without taking his eyes off the nightmare. Kennen quickly recited, "The Kinkou require the assistance of Nocturne, the Eternal Nightmare in disposing of a minor necromancer who is plaguing the city of Demacia with nightmares."

There was a pause, and Nocturne gave a soft chuckle. "Such rigorous discipline. Tell me, yordle, what is your deepest fear?" and he locked eyes with the Heart of the Tempest.

Kennen could not hear the shouts of his fellow ninjas as he began to scream. He screamed as every nightmare, every monster he had ever encountered or imagined, each and every one of his deepest, darkest fears clawed their way to the front of his mind. He screamed in a terror he had never felt before, and no living being should ever have to feel again; his mind and sanity began to buckle under the pressure of the unyielding darkness, and he hardly noticed the spectre tear through its bindings as if they were parchment, nor the spectre lunge toward his throat, blades outstretched, and Shen and Akali diving in a flurry of motion-

Then everything went black.

* * *

**I feel like this is so incredibly short, but I'm not very good with writing long stories. I have an idea for a second part, so if I get enough feedback I'll sit down and crank that out. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's part two! Please review if you enjoyed reading it. :)**

* * *

Time passed without measure in Kennen's unending nightmare. Horrifying visions passed in and out of his mind one after the other. He saw flashes of Shen and Akali with impossibly long claws and slavering fangs, lunging at him with mouths open wide; a dark pit from which black tendrils snaked out, grabbing Kennen's body and dragging him away; his mother, impaled on a spear, yet staring at him with tear filled eyes and whispering "Why didn't you save me?". The torture continued without stopping. He almost resigned himself to an eternity of fear as the ghastly visions grew worse and worse.

_Kennen..._

A demonic creature with six arms and countless eyes torturing the yordle champions in gruesome ways and popping their heads like berries-

_Kennen..._

He was in a forest now, running for his life from something he could not see, all the while the agonized screams of his friends and family echoed through his head like holiday bells-

"Kennen!"

He opened his eyes with a start, and for the first time in memory he no longer felt fear. He was laying in a bed that was not his own. He looked around, taking in the scene. He was in a hospital room, and daylight streamed in through the open window. The walls were gray stone, creating the atmosphere of a dungeon.

Shen stood across the room against the wall, unmasked, a single ninjato strapped to his side. Upon making eye contact with Kennen he nodded, but did not smile or speak. On his left stood Soraka, bleary eyed and exhausted, but smiling wearily. To his right stood a robed summoner, smiling mechanically down at the little yordle. His face was tan and scarred, with a bushy mustache and eyebrows. The most striking aspects of his appearance were his eyes: completely white, no veins, with jet black pinpricks for pupils.

"Good, good," he said with bravado. "You're awake. Soraka has been working for hours to undo the damage done by Nocturne's attack."

Kennen looked back to the Starchild, who nodded and held up her scepter. It glowed black. She waved it slightly and it left the air it passed through gray and distorted. "I managed to draw most of the nightmare out of your mind, but you still may notice some side effects. You'll experience some physical weakness for the next week or so. I've notified the League that you should not compete until you recover fully." she seemed a tad timid, as if she was ashamed she could not do more.

"It's fine," Kennen tried to say sternly, but his voice was raspy and quiet due to lack of use. "How long was I...out?"

"Two weeks." Shen said, walking forward and standing at the foot of the bed. "I've arranged with the Kinkou to have your training put off while you recuperate, but we expect you to make up for all your lost training the moment you're medically cleared."

Kennen nodded dutifully and tried to offer a salute, but found he could hardly move a muscle, and settled for an awkward slight nod of the head. He looked back over to the unfamiliar summoner, who was still grinning.

"It's very good you've woken my boy, I was starting to think you'd never escape the nightmare..." He was pacing the room now, taking slow, deliberate strides. "The summoners of the Institute - myself included, of course - were very worried about you. What would have happened if you had taken a turn for the worse, or never woken up? The backlash would have been enormous." He strode past Shen and waved his hand, and a pair of curtains popped into existence and shut in front of the window. He turned to face Kennen again.

"The League has to keep up appearances. With that sleeping spell escaping containment in Demacia, we have to keep the public calm if we're going to stop the spread. What would we do if one of our _champions_, the faces of the League, had seemingly fallen prey to the 'disease'? The world would have been thrown into panic and chaos..." he trailed off. "A true nightmare..." he added in a whisper, almost wistfully.

"But now you're making your recovery," he said, resuming his former bravado. "And I suppose the world will have to wait for another time to be thrown into unending darkness and terror." He slowly turned away with the eyes of all three champions now on him.

"...or will we?"

He went limp and eight enormous black tendrils exploded out of the summoner's back. The appendages whipped around the room as Soraka screamed for help, three of them launching at Kennen as Shen drew his blade. Kennen felt one of the slick, warm tentacles wrap around his ribs as Soraka desperately tried to right off the other two. As he was lifted into the air, Kennen saw Shen cleanly slice four of the tendrils in half.

"I WILL HAVE HIM!" roared Nocturne's disembodied voice. The spectre's fury surged through the tendril holding Kennen and he began to see stars. He gasped for air but could not breathe under the tendril's crushing strength. His vision began to darken, his hearing began to fade and-

The tendril went limp and Nocturne screamed in fury. Kennen crashed to the floor, the remains of the tentacle still wrapped around him and black, oily blood soaking into his hospital gown. Shen stood over him, panting, whip marks on his arms and face and blood dripping off his sword. Soraka knelt over Kennen and put her hand on his chest. She was shaking slightly, but her hand began to glow bright blue and the pain in Kennen's ribs began to fade. Before she or Shen could speak another summoner jogged hurriedly into the room. Seemingly taking no notice of the carnage of the scene, he threw back his hood and revealed a round face full of fear. In a hushed whisper, he recited:

"Nocturne has escaped. People everywhere, all over Valoran, are falling into nightmares." he swallowed. "Champions are dying. Summoners and uninfected are required to meet in the Grand Hall. Please, hurry." With a quick and awkward bow, he hurried out.

Soraka nervously readjusted her stance, clattering her hooves on the tile floor. "We should get moving. They'll need me to heal the wounded."

"No." Shen said simply, wiping his blade off on the robe of the possessed summoner. "First, we stop the source."

"What's that?" Kennen spoke up as Soraka helped him to his feet.

"We kill Nocturne." Shen said. With that, he sheathed his ninjato and lifted Kennen onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry, leaving Soraka to hurry after them.

* * *

**I hate cliffhangers, but I may continue this story, just with the POV of other champions...I dunno, could be fun. Thanks again for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

I get a lot of reviews on this story, even though I haven't updated in a while. I'm touched that people still have interest in this little story I threw together one evening, and even though I really had no ideas or plans to keep going, I can try to make it work if there's still enough interest. Thanks for all your support, guys!


End file.
